Oliver Sacks: His Own Life

For most of his life, Oliver Wolf Sacks was a helpless shape shifter. Watching him come into his own is quite something.

It doesn't flinch from the darkness of Sacks's childhood or from the insecurities that dogged him though his life. And yet it is still a celebration.

What a man. Just writing this makes me want to watch the documentary all over again.

There's an emotional ebb and flow that allows for a broad spectrum of disappointments and fallow periods before arriving at the portion of Sacks' life when his own accounts of particular patients garnered both he and them widespread attention.

Despite the relatively conventional filmmaking, what comes through most strongly in this portrait is Sacks' uniqueness -- a quality, as he said himself, which he shared with everyone else who has ever lived.

"Oliver Sacks: His Own Life" is a moving portrait of a man taking deep stock of his life with great satisfaction and verve.

Hard to imagine it could be more revelatory than this excellent documentary about one of life's true individuals.

With humour and insight, Sacks describes his extraordinary life as it's about to end in this fascinating and moving documentary.

Even if you're not familiar with Sacks' work, this documentary autobiography is a moving and compelling portrait of a flawed man who did landmark work.

Only occasionally does the documentary drift into hagiography when interviewees such as Paul Theroux and Robert Krulwich fall over themselves to praise Sacks.